130,000 Litre Oil Spill at Port Botany

According to media reports this morning, the Caltex Oil facility at Port Botany has this morning spilled 130,000 litres of unleaded fuel. Caltex say the fuel gushed from a 2 million litre tank at around 01:00am this morning, triggering fears of an explosion and resulting in a 1,000m2 lockdown of the surrounding areas. Latest reports say the spill has now been contained and workers have moved into a clean-up phase.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that “it is contained in a retaining wall and fire fighters are covering it with foam to prevent the risk of the fumes igniting. A valve malfunction is being blamed for the unusually massive and dangerous spill. Two contractors were treated at the scene for coming into contact with the fuel and one fire fighter has been taken to hospital suffering headaches, ABC reports. Shipping has stopped and there is no access in or out of the Port Botany Shipping Terminal. Surrounding roads including General Holmes Drive have reopened but are significantly delayed.”

Freightplus RO/RO services into Sydney will not be affected by the spill because these discharge further south, at Port Kembla.

Containerised cargo moving in our out of Sydney in the next 24 hours may be temporarily affected. Our crew will notify any Freightplus customers likely to be affected by the spill and clean-up process.

A valve malfunction is being blamed for the spill of 130,000 litres of unleaded fuel at Port